Experiment #4

        Lydia ran as fast as her legs would take her.  She could hear her heart beating in her ears.  Ten minutes.  The grass of the hillside flattened with every stomp of her foot.  She had to reach it in time.  She couldn’t get stuck here.  Not today.  She stopped for a moment, breathing hard.  She had to be sure she was going the right way.  There was no time to spare.
And that’s when she heard footsteps quickly getting louder and louder from behind her.  “No.” She groaned.  She thought she had lost them back at the castle.  How long had they been following her?  She threw herself into the bushes, hoping they could conceal her enough for the guards to pass by without noticing her.
They ran into Lydia’s view, but they didn’t seem to notice her.  There were at least ten of them.  They looked around for a moment and mumbled orders to each other.  Then they pointed and headed east.  Lydia let out a sigh she hadn’t realized she was holding in.  She pulled herself out of the bushes and tried to think of where to go.
She was headed towards the abandoned bridge, but her route went east, the way the guards went.  She ran towards the forest, she would just have to go east as well, but stay as hidden as she could. Lydia dodged branches and leaped over exposed tree roots.  The sun was setting faster than Lydia could run.  Five minutes.
She reached the edge of the forest and paused.  She looked to her left.  There it was, the bridge, her way back home.  And scattered across and in front of the bridge were the guards that had been following her.  She looked at the sun again.  It was now or never.  She had to get to the bridge.
Lydia brushed back her blonde curls and pulled her sword from her belt.  She charged the guards, hoping somehow, this wouldn’t be her end.  Filled with doubt, rage, and desperation, Lydia fought with all of her strength.  She dirtied her blade with the blood of the men who had thought her weak.  Four remained.  Her training had paid off.  The sun sunk more and more each second.  There was no time.  She pulled out her locket and opened it, releasing the force that it held and knocking the remaining guards to the ground.  Ten, nine, eight…
She jumped over the bodies of those she had slain and raced to the edge of the bridge.  Seven, six, five…
She threw herself over the edge into what should have been water, and felt a bolt of energy as she ripped through the fabric of time. Four, three, two…
Lydia landed hard, feeling the air escape from her lungs.  She looked up dizzily. The faces of her friends looked down at her.  Logan extended a hand to her, “Well? Did you get it?”